Blair kiss-a-thon

Well, if Tony Blair ends up winning the election, we'll all know who to blame, or praise!

British performance artist plans kiss-a-thon to help Tony Blair win election
at 13:17 on May 5, 2005, EST.

LONDON (AP) - A British performance artist said on Thursday he aimed to give Prime Minister Tony Blair a last-minute electoral boost by kissing his picture 100,000 times.

Mark McGowan, who once pushed a peanut with his nose across London to Blair's Downing Street residence to protest student debt, said Blair deserved a lift. "I haven't heard too many people come out and say good things about him," said McGowan, 39. "He has been prime minister for eight years and no one has said anything good about the economy. I think he is under-appreciated."

Blair was hoping to win a third term in office in Thursday's national election.

McGowan said he planned to kiss the laminated portrait of the prime minister on the lips in bursts of 50 smooches. He expected the stunt to take about eight hours.

McGowan is a veteran of unusual protests.

He once rolled himself across London for about seven kilometres, singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas to highlight the work of office cleaners. On another occasion he walked for almost 12 kilometres around south and central London with a turkey strapped to his head in a bid to persuade people to eat less and cut obesity rates.

Last month, McGowan was investigated by police after he claimed to have scratched the paintwork of cars in the name of art. He later said he had made the story up.